Beyond Rating: 4.5/5
In the world we live in, the phrase a “must-see” gets thrown about a lot, and in most cases completely unjustifiably so (a friend of mine for example used that for “Mamma Mia”, and needlessly to say we haven’t spoken about films since!). However, in the case of Spike Lee’s BlackKklansman, this phrase is definitely appropriate. I really urge you to cancel your plans tonight and go out to see this film as it leaves cinemas very shortly.
It’s rare that a film can make you feel so many contradictory emotions in a very short space of time. This is a very powerful film there’s no doubt about it, especially given the nature of the content, but it is also very funny, and what makes this film so engaging is how a very deliberate joke can get stuck in your throat as the scene can suddenly take a very dark turn. The only reason this film doesn’t get 5 stars is that it feels a touch long in places, but then digressions are to be expected in films and in this case they don’t take away from the main plot at all.
Powerful films like these are only as good as their writers and their actors, and in this case both are exceptional. The dialogue in the film is very clever and shifts tones brilliantly from the genuinely terrifying to the absurdly funny seamlessly. The acting is at times genuinely incredible, as a script can only do so much without support from the actors. Adam Driver especially deserves credit for what is an outstanding performance.
The film is based on a true story of Ron Stallworth (played by John David Washington, who incidentally is Denzel Washington’s son), a black Colorado Springs police officer who infiltrates the KKK to try to prevent an attack on a group of black activists. How well is does is truly incredible, since he even had conversations with David Duke! He is aided in his investigation by Flip Zimmerman (Driver’s character), a Jewish white police officer who stands in for Stallworth in KKK meetings. Without a doubt the best scenes in the film are those when Flip is undercover and has to carefully avoid attempts to catch him out, especially from Felix Kendrickson (creepily and brilliantly played by Jasper Paakkonen).
Those of you who have seen Mississippi Burning will know how powerful that film was and how powerful a film on this topic can be. To a degree though, when you watch it you can be forgiven for living in denial with the shock it gives you, as “that kind of thing doesn’t happen in the world today surely”. What this film does is draw the events from the late 1970s into the modern world, and it packs a hell of a punch. This is a very good film and I highly recommend you watch it.
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